EVANESCENCE Guitarist Speaks Out On Ditching SEETHER

EVANESCENCE caused some controversy earlier this year when the band first denied, then admitted, that guitarist Troy McLawhorn had rejoined the group after a four-year absence, during which he recorded and toured with SEETHER. The latter band is led by EVANESCENCE singer Amy Lee's former boyfriend, Shaun Morgan, with whom she had a contentious breakup five years ago and who was not happy about McLawhorn's seemingly abrupt defection.

Lee avoided mentioning SEETHER entirely when The Pulse Of Radio asked her about the situation a while back, merely saying that it was "so cool" that McLawhorn returned to her band. But McLawhorn himself was a little more open about the subject when The Pulse Of Radio asked him. "I had a really good time with those guys, but it came to a point where, you know, it just wasn't working out for me personally," he said. "I actually called Amy up when I was in New York and just kind of wanted to hang out. I hadn't seen her in a long time, and we got together and went to her house, you know, and I just kind of told her that I wasn't, you know, in a good place, that I was ready to make a change, and she's like, 'If you want to come do this with us, welcome to it.'"

Shortly after McLawhorn's departure from SEETHER, Morgan tweeted, "Interesting news about our old guitarist. Can anyone guess? No, he's not coming back. He went to another band. Little anti-Shaun club."

EVANESCENCE released its self-titled third major label album last month, five years after its last effort, 2006's "The Open Door". The disc debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, selling 127,000 copies in its first week.

The band wrapped up its fall North American tour on Tuesday night (November 1) in New York City, and heads out on a European trek later this week.